February 2003

February has been dry this year with only 49mm of rain falling. An old saying as I have mentioned before is "Dry February Wet June" so we will see as the year progresses.

At the start of the month, as with January, we had a light dusting of snow. As you see it was not sledging weather and as the end of the month has been mild I hope this was all the snow we will see this winter.

The dry month has meant the usual muckspreading and the store is now empty and we only need to spread on Peacocks field and we will have spread on all this year's land for silaging.

There have been 4 calves born this month 1 simmental heifer 1 angus heifer and 2 black and white bulls one of which was born dead and the other was rejected by his mother he is however doing fine drinking from a bucket.

This picture is of the overhang on the silage just before I knocked it down with the loader. The clamp is currently at its highest at around 5m and is above loader reach.

This time of year can be dangerous as there was several tons of silage in the lump which I dislodged. If the cattle were to gain access to the clamp then they could sustain serious injury if it were to collapse onto them

Bovine Tuberculosis is a cattle disease similar to that in humans though not trasnsmissable from one to the other. Cattle are tested every two years and we have just had our test.

Jo, our vet injects the cows with a test serum and three days later they are examined to see if there has been any reaction.. If you have had your BCG injection at school you may remember the test before you were given the injection this is a similar procedure.

All the cows passed clear I am pleased (and VERY relieved) to report.

In the corner of our barn stood the old plate mill. It had stood there for probably about 80 years and had not been used for 20 years but it has found a new lease of life and has been bought by Robert to grind not corn but pine needles.

Further details will be shown when he has installed it.

More about the plate mill will soon be shown in a new section we are currently writing about Greenheyes farm's past which will be coming soon.

February is ending mild and I hope this means that spring will soon be here

Well that's just about it for now don't forget to check ot our nature report,

See you next month Phil

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